


I Will Follow

by thraxbaby



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, I needed to make everything better, spoilers for book XII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 01:05:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15108551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thraxbaby/pseuds/thraxbaby
Summary: Ramona will go to the ends of the earth for Julian





	I Will Follow

Ramona watched diligently over Julian's body. A preservation spell kept him from - she hated thinking it, but - rotting away while he searched for the Hanged Man in the other realm. The mark on his neck had been constantly glowing since the hanging, yet he still hadn't woken up. He just laid there, so unnaturally still. Even when they had slept together in the past, he was always moving around. To see him this still sent a shiver down her spine. She just wanted to see his chest expand with a breath, for him to open his eyes and smile that cheeky grin and insist he was all right. 

Asra watched over Ramona, making sure she ate and slept and stayed hydrated. Even doing those, she never left Julian's side. She spoke to him constantly, trying to fill the silence that otherwise would have been filled with Ilya's voice. It was at the three day mark that Ramona couldn't wait anymore. 

"Asra, I need you to send me back to the Hanged Man's realm. I need to make sure Julian is okay." she said. 

"Are you sure? You almost got hurt last time. If something happens to you, too..." Asra couldn't finish that thought. He lost her once, he couldn't stand it if he lost her again. 

"Please. I need to bring him back. You told me you wouldn't go where I couldn't follow. But if I have to, I will. I'd go to the ends of the earth for you two, to hell and back if I have to. I just... I just want him back." Ramona's voice cracked and tears fell down her cheeks. Asra held a warm hand to her cheek and wiped away her tears with his thumb. 

"Okay. Lay down and clear your mind. We'll get him back." Ramona hugged Asra before laying beside Julian. She looked over his motionless face once more and pressed a kiss to his lips. 

"Don't worry. We're coming to save you." she said. 

Ramona laid down, closed her eyes and focused. Before she started drifting off, her hand found Julian's and she intertwined their fingers. She felt herself float away and everything went dark. 

The Hanged Man's realm was the same as the last time she was there: red and hazy and covered in mangroves. Ramona moved quickly, trying to cover as much ground as she could. She needed to find Julian fast. Her heart cried out to him, navigating her through the roots and trees and thorny vines until she caught sight of a cliff face. Atop the cliff stood the Hanged Man. But where was Julian? There was a tangle of thorny vines beside the Hanged Man. Could Julian be in there?

Ramona looked around for a way up. A wall of those same thorny vines climbed up the cliff face. The thorns looked intimidating, but they were her only route to Julian. She steeled her will, grabbed a vine, and started climbing. She grit her teeth and ignored the stinging in her hands, the scratches on her legs, the holes being torn in her skirt. Suddenly, the vines around her came to life and began to wrap themselves around her. 

Ramona cried out. She tried to struggle, but she remembered what happened the last time she and Julian were here. She relaxed and let the vines take her upwards. There at the top, she saw Julian in much the same predicament. 

"Ramona!" Julian spotted her and struggled to get free. "Ramona, are you okay? Why are you here?" 

"Relax! I'm fine. I just... I had to see you, make sure you were okay. You've been gone for three days." Ramona said. Julian's eye went wide. 

"Three days?" 

"Have you found out anything about the cure?" she asked. 

"No. I'm just getting more questions than answers." Julian said. 

"Yeah, they're like that sometimes." Ramona said, remembering her first time meeting the Magician with Asra. She looked away from Julian towards the raven-headed figure. He was so close, she just needed to speak with him. She summoned heat to surround her body, wilting the vines constricting her body. She stepped out of them, to Julian's surprise. 

"How did you do that?" Julian asked. Ramona ignored him in favor of speaking with the raven-headed man. 

"Julian said you once helped him discover the cure to the plague. Could you please help him this time? The plague is returning and hundreds of people could die without that cure." Ramona asked. 

"I have already divulged my knowledge. I will not repeat myself." the Hanged Man said. "However, I will say, the cure is still within reach. You must simply open your eyes to the path." 

"See? It doesn't make any sense!" Julian said. But it had to, Ramona thought. Open your eyes... Could he be talking about the sight Asra showed her back in the cave? The Hanged Man seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "Tread with caution. There are dark forces stirring. They will try to stop you." 

"I think I know what we have to do." Ramona said, speaking to Julian. He grinned at her. 

"Thank goodness. What would I do without you?" He wanted to give her a kiss, but he was still hopelessly tangled up. "Now... how do I get back?" 

... 

Asra paced back and forth in the room. Ramona had been asleep all night, all morning. It was now midday and she had still not woken up. Tension twisted his guts. Seeing Julian and Ramona laying together, unconscious like that... Old fears came bubbling up. He had lost Ramona once, brought her back from Death's grasp. And Ilya... Asra tried his best to never have to see him like that, but he was never able to handle Ilya's sacrificing nature. How Ramona handled it, he had no idea. 

Portia came by with lunch, but Asra didn't have an appetite. She sat with him, both of them watching over their loved ones. 

"What do you think they're doing in there?" Portia asked. 

"I don't know. Hopefully making progress. But the Hanged Man is incredibly difficult to get to. They could be in there a while."

... 

Ramona had freed Julian from the vines and they were now creating a gameplan. They agreed Ramona would use her magic to find the path, but there was only one problem: Julian needed to return to his body. 

"How am I going to do it? It was one thing when I was simply sleeping, but... How did my body look?" Julian asked. 

"Um... As far as I could tell, your neck didn't break. And I placed a preservation spell to keep you... fresh." Ramona grimaced at the thought of Julian's dead body. She wanted him alive, healthy, like he appeared before her now. 

"I'm sorry I had to do this, but it's significantly better to do this than sit back and watch everyone we love succumb to the plague. At the very least, you know the way to get to the cure. If I'm not able to wake up, I can trust you to find it and make it." Julian said. He reached for her hands and his eyes lingered on the cuts that littered their skin from the thorns that had bound them. 

"I wish I could heal you. I don't know why my curse isn't working in here." He wiped away a dribble of blood from a cut with his thumb. The blood wiped away, along with the cut. They stared at her arm in shock, then at each other. "How did that work?"

Ramona furrowed her brow, figuring things out in her mind. 

"I think... I think I understand." she said. "When I got rid of the vines, I wanted them gone, so I made them go away. That's essentially the basics of magic. You wanted to heal my cut, so you made it happen. In this realm, you have to will things into being."

"So... I just have to... what? Make myself wake up?" Julian asked. 

"Yes. Just think of all the time we could have now. You know, you speak a lot about dancing, yet we've never done that. We could travel, become pirates, anything you want." Ramona said. A dreamy smile spread across Julian's lips. 

"No more running from guards... No more interruptions..." Julian added. "I can fall asleep in your arms and wake up to your pretty face every day." Julian held her close. "We can have dinners with Pasha and Mazelinka, we could stay up late and sit under the stars... And I promise to take you dancing. I want it more than anything in the world." 

Julian bent down for a kiss. Ramona responded enthusiastically. She felt light, like she was floating. Everything around them faded. 

... 

Asra had been dozing in his seat when it happened. Ilya's chest expanded, taking in a breath. Asra jumped to his feet, suddenly wide awake. He watched as color returned to Ilya's skin and he and Ramona blinked awake. Immediately, Asra was at their sides, checking that they were okay. Asra's eyes met Julian's. 

"I thought we lost you." Asra admitted. Julian cracked a smile. 

"You can't get rid of me that easily." he joked, though he was touched that Asra cared. Asra hesitated for a moment, then wrapped Julian into a hug. Julian was surprised at first, but then hugged back. 

"So what happened? Do you know the cure?" Asra asked. 

"No, but we think we know how to find it." Ramona answered. She told Asra of their plan to find the cure. Asra insisted they rest first, but Julian was determined to get a head start. They had a city to save, after all.


End file.
